I'm not claiming that 37 hrs is the complete labour cost of building a motor car in isolation Shadow Minister. If you consider that a profit making transaction has already occurred when the parts were sold to the car maker. It is not correct to include labour cost already incurred by the parts manufacturer in the question.

I was hoping to draw attention to the labour component as a percentage of cost and the disparity between the price a consumer pays business for goods and services etc, and the price he receives for his labour.

It's 101 to me, that in our society (particularly over the last 15 yrs) "the are rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, faster".
What I don't understand, is how or why this is necessary for the health of the economy.

I come from an industry that has never had collective representation and I cant remember the last time I had a pay rise, other than by changing employers, or getting a chance to re-negotiate my existing individual contract.

Prices are now forging ahead because they can, in the weakened regulatory environment and thusly profits are up and up. And the gap between rich and poor widens without any apparent function or useful purpose in the economy as a whole.

Privatisation and regulatory change have disempowered most Australians and is the primary cause of increasing prices/inflation in the essential services sector not wage increases.

Also SM, if we are going to continue to allow mostly conglomerate oversea's owned miners , dig holes all over the place and then leave us with the holes, it seems fair that the taxpayer should receive a greater slice of the cake than is currently the case. (Maybe we can re-sell them the holes for their waste later).

I applaud Kevin Rudd for his Tax initiative. It at least is a step in the right direction if the funds raised are used to build, buy back or replace essential services/infrastructure lost to private interests.

Thinker 2,

What controls are you specifically talking about? When was the economy out of control?

What hit Australis was not due to anything in Aus. Thus Rudd's over reaction was the cause of the instability. His tax grab on mining to try and fix it has probably contributed to his caning in the polls.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/03/2889312.htm?section=justin

The way we look at profit margins has changed. RRP's do not exist. It now okay to charge more than that. This is now considered accepted business practice, for example.

The way we came to wage agreements ( Howard era) has placed downward pressure on wages (in real terms) and those on individual contracts in blue colour jobs can expect little or no rises in pay to compensate for inflation in the near future either Shadow Minister.

And on Rudd, and his mining tax move ( if he sticks to it ) may ultimately prove once and for all, that he is in fact "a conviction politician". And not the boogy monster.

i think we are all mature enough to get simple truths
lets face the SS/pin
cut through the ccc-rap

inflation comes about when the fed reserve banks..issue too much credit..[inflate the money supply]..

and the truth about grease/up greece..is that goldmansax got derivitives..onsold them..thus the same mob..doing the same scam

..and this fraud now is compounded by the BAIL/out..[of the bankers/..phase two..60 billion de-fault will become 120 billion default..

but this time its the germains/tax payers...
and greecian tax payers..
on the hook..to bail out banker excess yet again

krudd..must know...he needs us on the hook too[we are giving the world bank the funds..funds we can never get back..so were on the hook as well..well done un/bankers/goldman sax/world bank...goldman sax...and the pub-lick ser-vice..lawyers and aCCOUNTANTS...WE UNDER WRITE THE UNDERWRITERS YET AGAIN

we lost most of our supper last time..employers didnt pay for it..[the reduced wage increase we forfeited did...just like this time...same same...same old criminals stealing from the same ol mugs]...us and them others of us..[the sheeple...who swallow..SSpin]

let them eat cccc-rap

the tax payers have become beasts of burdon..[unrepresented swill]..we saw overtnight the smokers burdend with a new 6 billion tax burden...

then the next day the reactions of the elites...avoiding a 9 billion tax...to give an egsample..smokers get abuse/insult..and the mining elete get..[in just one recent egsample...60 billion of resources..for 800 million in royalties..to the qld govt

a nice lurk if your suing the premier..thats the game...and the input?..the organiser organised a twenty billion loan..then sits back and reaps in the pennies/gold/silver coal[or in this/quoted case..the gas]

govt of course provides the ports/rail/infastructure..normally..though in this case it apears some money will be given to build a new railway...either way...the state bears the burden..

that is to say the mugs/../the mug smokers..earn as you go wage earners...who when they finally get ahhead...get inflation..that chews away their nest egg..

its a lovely game they play with the peoples assets..that builds their fiefdoms..then as usual..let the serfs pay...another topic asked what to do about it...

well state mines its own minerals...[get the 60 billion..FOR ITS PEOPLE/direct.....funnily THAT 60 BILLION..IS the same ammount as the current ODIOUS DEBT..[for qld]

instead of the public servants/and two party machine men..ie the elites mates..getting the lucre..the people do...

its as easy as that..nationalise the resources...[even the forrests gifted away under the colluded deal]..to the x party machine men..enough of their odious debt's..

and their generouse supper for treason most vile